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The Foundation for the Advancement of Medical Education and Research (FAIMER) is a US-based non-profit organisation committed to improving health professions education to improve global health.
FAIMER traditionally offers a two year fellowship programme; 2 residential and 3 distance learning sessions and an education innovation project in the fellow’s home institution. The focus is on education methods, leadership/management, scholarship and the development of an international community of health professions educators.
During the past 5 years, FAIMER has expanded the programme and established regional institutes in India[3], Brazil[1] and Southern Africa (SAFRI)[1]. We implemented the programme in Africa in 2008, introducing 5 innovations to the generic programme. SAFRI was created as an independent voluntary association to reflect the multinational intent of the programme.
Aim of project
To understand the impact of the innovations in the structure and implementation of the programme on its quality and the experience of the participants in it.
Conclusions
Faculty development programmes can significantly enhance their impact:
Be sensitive to the local political climate
Demonstrate wide ownership
Focus on developing a community of practice
Work within the professional time constraints of Fellows and faculty
Maximise learning opportunities by linking to other scholarly activities

This podcast deals with the child sexual abuse.This podcast outlines the physicians’ role and management in acute and historic child sexual assault cases. In addition, the physical findings associated with sexual assault are described. In general, very few physicians are comfortable managing child sexual assaults. This podcast was written by Dr. Melanie Lewis. Dr. Lewis is a general pediatrician at the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton. She is also the Program Director of the Pediatric Forensics fellowship program and the Year 3 Clerkship Director for Pediatrics at the University of Alberta. These podcasts are designed to give medical students an overview of key topics in pediatrics. The audio versions are accessible on iTunes. You can find more great pediatrics content on www.pedscases.com.

This podcast deals with the physical abuse of children. Injuries concerning for physical child abuse will be discussed including: bruising, fractures, burns, and head trauma (aka shaken baby syndrome).
This podcast was written by Dr. Melanie Lewis. Dr. Lewis is a general pediatrician at the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton. She is also the Program Director of the Pediatric Forensics fellowship program and the Year 3 Clerkship Director for Pediatrics at the University of Alberta.
These podcasts are designed to give medical students an overview of key topics in pediatrics. The audio versions are accessible on iTunes. You can find more great pediatrics content on www.pedscases.com.

The current trend of Publish or Perish and also for academic excellence, scientists get recognition by publications. However, besides publications in journal, there is a need for building educational scholarships and portfolios for proving excellence in academics. This is summary of report presented at ETHICSCON 2013 held at AIIMS Jodhpur, India on 9-10 December 2013.

The National Kidney Foundation Primer on Kidney Diseases is your ideal companion in clinical nephrology! From anatomy, histology, and physiology, through the diagnosis and management of kidney disease, fluid and electrolyte disorders, hypertension, dialysis, and kidney transplantation, this trusted manual from Elsevier and the National Kidney Foundation provides an accessible, efficient overview of kidney diseases that's perfect for residency, fellowship, clinical practice, and board review. Incorporate the latest NKF Kidney/ Outcome Quality Initiative guidelines on chronic kidney disease staging and management. Review the basics with a current and practical review of the anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management of kidney disease, fluid and electrolyte disorders, hypertension, dialysis, and renal transplantation. Put the latest knowledge to work in your practice with 8 brand-new chapters including kidney development, assessment of kidney function in acute and chronic settings, the kidney in malignancy, acute tubular injury and acute tubular necrosis, acute interstitial nephritis, Fabry Disease, immunosuppression, and transplant infectious disease, as well as comprehensive updates on acute kidney injury, transplant medicine, kidney function and kidney disease in the elderly, GFR estimation, biomarkers in kidney disease, recently described pathologic targets in membranous nephropathy, minimal change disease, viral nephropathies, and much more! Get expert advice from a new team of editors, led by Scott Gilbert and Dan Weiner from Tufts University School of Medicine, each bringing a fresh perspective and a wealth of clinical experience. Quickly access the complete contents online at Expert Consult, with fully searchable text, downloadable images, and additional figures and graphs.

http://www.globalfamilydoctor.com/WONCAForum/GeneralDiscussion/23092.aspx
Our University is embarking on a Project of web-based education for General Physicians in Pakistan and the whole region in the form of recorded videos. The videos shall cover a pertinent area of interest or knowledge considered important to a GP.
The recorded lectures shall be presented as groups of class-room lectures put together as modules. Each module shall carry weightage of certain CME credithours when the required percentage of a pass are achieved by answering the post-test questionnaires. Some thirty to forty
such modules are in plan to cover all the essential clinical areas and core competencies required in a GP for safe, evidence based practice in the community. This is the level I activity and forms a mandatory course or review material for all grades of General practitioners.The lectures
are being delivered by local expertise and expected to include international ones in due course of time. More and more are being contacted and those,who agree to join and participate in the programme are welcome regardless of their speciality and parent institution and location and free from any obligation.
A second level entry and access shall be provided to the successful participants to get trained for professional membership and fellowship programmes either developed locally or in collaboration with international institutions. Will it be successful in attracting and enrolling enough FPs and GPs locally and internationally? If so how?
Dr.Syed Shakeel Ahmad
Coordinator e-CME Programme
and Pakistan College for General Practitioners Pakistan
drsyedshakeel@yahoo.com

Who are we?
This society has been formed by a core group of clinical year medical students at the University of Birmingham. We are hoping that lots more healthcare students at UoB will join us soon. This society is open to any student who has a keen interest in healthcare management – Nurse, physio, BMedSc, Medical student, Business student, dentist and pharmacist are all welcome.
Why do we exist?
Healthcare has become more complex. To ensure that patient’s receive the most effective treatments then healthcare services need to be organised effectively. This might be your role one day and you won’t receive any formal training in management theory or on team working and leadership skills from the University – knowledge that is essential to providing the best care for our patients.
Studies have shown that clinicians who have received management training and who take an active role in managing the departments they belong to have achieved significantly decreased complication and mortality rates.
What do we plan to do?
1) Raise awareness amongst healthcare students about the opportunities to be involved in healthcare management in their future careers.
2) The society hopes to act as an intermediary between healthcare students keen to make contacts with likeminded individuals in other course and years. We intend to have regular social events that allow everyone to practice their essential networking skills while at discussions over coffee, nights out, games of golf or away day visits to conferences and organisational visits.
3) The society will be holding lectures given by eminent professionals from all areas of healthcare management – The NHS, DoH, Armed forces, private organisations, think tanks, consultancy firms and leading researchers.
4) The society aims to help students foster essential leadership and team working skills that will be required in their future professional roles. These skills will be developed informally and during seminars and workshops. These skills will then be put to the test in high stress situations like Paintballing, laser tag and outdoor activities.
5) The final main aim of this society is to help students make contacts with clinicians and researchers who are working on improving healthcare systems and who need healthcare students to help with research. We hope to develop a network of contacts who are willing to provide research and audit opportunities to keen students.
Are you interested in joining the Birmingham Students Medical Leadership Society?
Then please email the committee at: med.leadership.soc.uob@gmail.com
Or join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/676838225676202/
Or come find us at the MedSoc Freshers fair in September.
The Student medical leadership society (SMiLeS) useful resources!!!
Why is it important?
student BMJ 2012;345:e5319
http://www.leadingsystemsnetwork.com/pdf/Management_Matters.pdf
http://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/11/02/improving-performance-nhs
http://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e5015
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=healthcare+reform
Undergrad oppurtunities
http://www.diagnosisltd.co.uk/
http://www.ihi.org/offerings/ihiopenschool/Pages/default.aspx
http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/business-school/programmes/msc-health-management?gclid=CPTQy6bCwLgCFS3HtAodZ1sAtQ
http://medicalleadership.net/committee/
http://www.lead-in.co.uk/
http://www.ihi.org/offerings/IHIOpenSchool/Chapters/Pages/SQLA.aspx
Foundation year opportunities
http://www.stfs.org.uk/faculty/leadership
Future career opportunities
http://www.leadership.londondeanery.ac.uk/home/fellowships%20in%20clinical%20education
http://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/get-involved/harkness-fellowship
Higher Education
http://www.surrey.ac.uk/postgraduate/courses/business/healthcaremanagement/
http://www.open.ac.uk/health-and-social-care/main/study-us/leadership
http://www.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate/taughtdegrees/courses/atoz/course/?code=05855
http://www.brunel.ac.uk/bbs/mba/mba-specialisations/healthcare-management
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/students/courses/postgraduate/taught/social-policy/health-care-policy-management.aspx
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/social-policy/departments/health-services-management-centre/index.aspx
Free Learning/ Relevant organisations
http://www.qficonsulting.com/healthcare/qfi-healthcare
http://www.tocthinkers.com/
http://www.tocthinkers.com/2012/05/qa-performance-improvement-for-healthcare-leading-change-with-lean-six-sigma-and-constraints-managem.html
http://www.institute.nhs.uk/quality_and_service_improvement_tools/quality_and_service_improvement_tools/theory_of_constraints.html
http://www.dbrmfg.co.nz
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=theory+of+constraints&rlz=1C1CHMC_enGB501GB502&oq=Theory+of+con&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i57j5j69i65j0j69i62.4977j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_constraints
http://www.york.ac.uk/che/
http://www.ihm.org.uk/
Relevant Journals
http://www.bmj.com/highwire/filestream/342359/field_highwire_article_pdf/0/bmj.c5072.full.pdf
www.civitas.org.uk/doctors/index.php
http://www.bmj.com/highwire/filestream/342359/field_highwire_article_pdf/0/bmj.c5072.full.pdf
http://www.hsj.co.uk/#
http://www.bjhcm.co.uk/
book list
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Performance-Improvement-Healthcare-Constraints-ebook/dp/B005RWFOSE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374945477&sr=8-1&keywords=Performance+Improvement+for+Healthcare
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_6?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=goldratt&sprefix=Goldra%2Cdigital-text%2C142&rh=i%3Adigital-text%2Ck%3Agoldratt
Final Summary
Did you know that you may not just work for the NHS, but also help to run it? The new Medical Leadership Society aims to foster leadership skills in healthcare students through talks from NHS leaders, the DoH and even the Armed Forces.
We provide a way for you to learn about being a leader and influencing policies in the NHS, and our talks and events will serve as an excellent platform for you to start making influential contacts within areas that interest you. You’ll also practice those leadership skills in an array of activities, including paintballing and laser tag!

Book of the week (BotW) = The Darwin Economy by Prof Frank
Being a medical student and wanna-be-surgeon, I am naturally very competitive. I know exactly where I want to end up in life. I want to be a surgeon at a major unit doing research, teaching and management, as well as many other things. To reach this goal in a rational way I, and many others like me, need to look at what is required and make sure that we tick the boxes. We must also out-compete every other budding surgeon with a similar interest.
Medicine is also a dog-eat-dog world when it comes to getting the job you want. Luckily you can head off into almost any field you find interesting, as long as you have the points on your CV to get access to the training. In recent years, the number of med students has increased, but so has the competition for places. The number of FY1 jobs has increased but so has the competition for good rotations. The number of consultant posts has increased, but so has the competition for the jobs.
To even be considered for an interview for a consultant surgeon post these days a candidate (hopefully my future self) will have to demonstrate an excellent knowledge of anatomy, physiology, pathology and demography. They will need to have competent surgical skills and have completed all of the hours and numbers of procedures. To further demonstrate this they will need to have gone on extra-curricular courses and fellowships. They will also need to show that they can teach and have been doing so regularly. They must now also have an understanding of medical leadership and have a portfolio of projects. Finally, they will have had to tick the research box, with posters, publications, oral presentations and research degrees.
That’s a long list of tick boxes and guess what? It has been getting longer! I regularly attend a surgical research collaborative meeting in Birmingham. Many of those surgeons didn’t even get taught about research at medical school or publish anything until they were registrars. Now even to get onto a good Core Training post you need to have at the very least some posters in your chosen field and probably a minimum of a publication. That’s a pretty big jump in standards in just 15 years.
In two generations the competition has increased exponentially. Why is that?
Prof Frank explains economic competition in Darwinian terms. His insights apply equally well to the medical training programme. It’s all about your relative performance compared to your peers and the continual arms race for the best resources (training posts). However, the catch is, if everyone ups their performance by the same amount then you all work harder for no more advantage for anyone, except for the first few people who made the upgrade. The majority do not benefit but are in fact harmed by this continual arms race.
I believe that this competition will only get worse as each new year of med students tries to keep up and surpass the previous cohort. This competition will inevitably lead to a greater time commitment from the students with no potential gain. Everything we do is relative to everyone else. If we up our game, we will outperform the competition, until they catch up with us and then relatively we are no better off but are working harder.
Why is this relevant?
I know everyone will want to select “the best” candidate, but in medicine the “best” candidate doesn’t really exist because we are all almost equally capable of doing the role, once we have had the training. So there is no point us all working ourselves into the ground for a future job, if all our hard work won’t pay off for most of us anyway. But we can’t make these choices as individuals because if one of us says that “I am not going to play the game. I am going to enjoy my free time with my friends and family”, that person won’t get the competitive job because everyone else will out-perform them. We have to tackle this issue as a cohort.
How do we ensure that we don’t work ourselves into the ground for nothing?
Collectively as medical students and trainees we should ask the BMA and Royal Collages to set out a strict application process that means once candidates have met the minimum requirements, there is no more points for additional effort. For instance, the application form for a surgical consultant post should only have space to include 5 peer-reviewed publications. That way it wouldn’t necessarily matter if you had 5 or 50 publications.
This limit may seem counter-intuitive and will possibly work against the highly competitive high achievers, but it will have a positive effect on everyone else’s life. Imagine if you only had to write 5 papers in your career to guarantee a chance at a job, instead of having to write 25. All that extra time you would have had to invest in extra-curricular research can now be used more productively by you to achieve other life goals, like more time with your family or more patient contact or even more time in theatre perfecting your skills.
If you were selecting candidates for senior clinicians, would you rather pick an all round doctor who has met all of the requirements and has a balanced work-life balance or a neurotic competitor who hasn’t slept in 8 years and is close to a breakdown?
Being a doctor is more than a profession, it is a life-style choice but we should try to prevent it becoming our entire lives.

There are roughly 7000 medical students graduating each year from 33 medical schools in the UK. Medical degrees take either 4, 5 or 6 years depending on the route you take.
The government via the Student Finance Company will pay for your tuition fees for the first 4 years of any undergraduate degree. After this the NHS will pay for the last year or 2 years of the undergraduate medical tuition fees.
The maintenance loan depends on family income. The figures aren’t easy to find for the background of most UK medical students but a ‘guestimate’ based on my medical school is that 50% went to a private school, 30% went to selective state schools and 20% went to a comprehensive. Of the private school kids probably about half had a scholarship or bursary. So, a rough guess would be that 70% of med students come from a “middle class” family who have a decent income but not huge wealth and are therefore eligible for a ‘maintenance loan’ above the minimum. This majority therefore rely on there loan to get through the year.
An average student income is between £1000 and £1500/term (£1200 average-ish). Most university terms are 10 weeks, hence average income is about £120/week. As a preclinical medical student this is fine and we are on par with everyone else. As soon as we become clinical med students the game changes!
Clinical years are far longer, more like 40 weeks a year rather than 30. Students are on placement, have to dress professionally and travel to placement daily. This adds additional costs and requires the money to stretch further. Doubly bad!
Once, the NHS starts paying the tuition fees, the Student Loans Company starts reducing the maintenance loan, by half! Why?
A final year student or a 4th year who has intercalated now has to survive at University for one of their course’s longest years with half the money they had previously. >40 weeks on a loan of roughly £1500/year. This situation is pretty much unique to medical students.
Some students are lucky enough to have parents who can afford the extra couple of thousand pounds required for the year. Some students get selected into the military and get a salary. A greater proportion find part time jobs to help cover the cost and the rest have to resort to saving money where they can and taking out loans.
When I was a member of the BMA medical student committee I did a project as part of the finance sub-committee investigating the loans available for medical students. Many banks used to “professional development loans” which allowed medical and law students to borrow money for a year before they had to start repaying the loan. Hardly any banks now offer this service, so the only loan available is an overdraft or a standard loan that requires you to have a regular income.
This means that final year medical students with limited family support may have to live for a year on less than £2000. Does this seem fair? Does this seem sensible government policy?
Medical students are 99% guaranteed to be earning over £25 thousand pounds within a year. We will be able to repay any loans. So why isn’t the Student Loan Company allowing us to continue having a ‘normal’ maintenance loan? And why aren’t banks giving us the benefit of the doubt and helping us out in our time of need?
When I was on the BMA MSC there was talk of having a campaign to lobby government and the banks to rectify this situation but I can’t say I’ve been aware of any such campaign. Are the NUS, BMA, UKMSA or anyone else doing anything about this?
Please do leave a comment if you do know if there has been a progress and if there hasn’t why don’t we start making a fuss about this!